A total of 41 people have been arrested as a result of a get tough policy on drinking and driving, police revealed yesterday.

Roadside breath test checkpoints, set up on eight occasions since they were introduced last month, have pulled over a total of 800 people.

Men outnumbered women in the arrest total, with 35 men compared with six women taken into custody. The age range was 20 to 65.

The arrest rate is equivalent to 5.1 per cent of all road users checked.

All drivers and riders who hit checkpoints are assessed by police to avoid suggestions of profiling.